September 17/99 11:44 am - Kabush 9th at Worlds

Posted by Editor on 09/17/99

Bui Beats Evans in Espoir Race

Chris Redden, our reporter at the World's in Are, Sweden has just reported in with results from the first day of cross-country racing. The biggest upset was Italian Marco Bui beating World Cup champion Cadel Evans of Australia by 20 seconds in the Espoirs (Under 23) race. Chris says that the rain has moved in - "pouring all day, and really cold (8-10 Celcius)" - making the course very treacherous. The riders are having some difficulty climbing, and even more on a particularly hard section of the technical descent. It was so windy that the DH practice was delayed and the top ski lift can not be used.

This is where Evans lost the 20 seconds to Bui. The two had been battling it out at the front of the race (4 laps, plus a start loop) until the fourth lap on this section, when Bui passed Evans, causing the Australian to go down. He lost his bike over the edge of an embankment and had to go scrambling after it, losing time that he could not make up. Martino Fruet of Italy was third, 3:21 down. Top Canadian was Geoff Kabush in 9th place, 11:53 down, followed by Marc Sonntag (16:38). No word yet on the other Canadians.

In the Junior races, Canada's best hope, Ricky Federau crashed on the aforementioned descent and did not finish. Nicola Philippe of France won. Anna Szafraniec of Poland took the Junior Women's event, with Clare Hall-Patch the top Canadian in 10th.